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New! Improved! Russian Political Ads!

By Andrew Rosenthal March 1, 2012 10:12 amMarch 1, 2012 10:12 am

In the 1980s, when I covered the Soviet Union, we used to joke about the primitive state of Russian advertising, which was largely confined to billboards with stirring slogans like “Communism Equals Soviet Power Plus Electrification of the Entire Country.”

There weren’t many actual products to advertise, or companies to advertise them, or any competition to create a reason to advertise. And Soviet models tended to be women dressed in overalls, driving a combine.

Well those days are gone. In advertising, as in so many other ways, the Russians have adopted the habits of Western countries. They even have political ads. Really, really weird political ads.
Take this new spot for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his United Russia Party, featuring a lovely young lady and a fortune teller.

Here’s the translation from Animal, a website hosting the ad, which I promise is pretty good:

“We’ll find out, little beauty, who fate has in store for you.”
“You know, I hope it’s for love.” Blink-blink-blink. “It’s my… first time.”
“The cards will tell the truth… I see it will be for love… without deception…”
A Putin card is revealed.
“Wow. It’s him!”
“You’ll be happy with him. He’ll protect you like a stone wall.”

Putin. First time — only for <3.

The fortune-teller ad isn’t the first in Mr. Putin’s sex-in-politics series. Here’s an earlier installment:

The only thing you need translated here is the cutaway in the middle to text that reads: “Come on, let’s do this together.”

I can guess what you’re thinking – “Who knew this Putin guy was such a fun-loving fellow?” That’s because you didn’t realize that the KGB, where he worked for decades before the fall of Communism, was such a happy-go-lucky place. Or maybe because you missed his rendition of “Blueberry Hill” in front of an imported audience of not-so-huge Hollywood stars, including Kevin Costner, Gérard Depardieu, Mickey Rourke, Sharon Stone, Kurt Russell, Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci and Goldie Hawn.

Or maybe that’s because you know that Mr. Putin is an autocrat who has suppressed democracy, free speech and the free press, and who rigged the last election in his party’s favor.

There are some grim reminders of his, shall we say, method of governance in yet another new Russian ad.

The woman is Ksenia Sobchak, a socialite turned social commentator. She starts off by saying she’s voting for the benevolent, always reliable, always generous Mr. Putin, and the rest pretty much speaks for itself. It’s a parody of a new series of Putin ads in which public figures explain why they have decided to vote for him. (There’s good reason to believe that some of them agreed to broadcast their support for Mr. Putin under duress.)

By comparison, the political ads we’re seeing in this country seem positively tame.